Role players are carrying Blackhawks, Flyers in Stanley Cup finals

From Philadelphia -- Who would have thought fourth-liner Ben Eager would have scored more goals for the Chicago Blackhawks than emergent power forward Dustin Byfuglien three games into the Stanley Cup finals?

Or that light-scoring defenseman Brent Sopel would have as many goals as he did during the season — one — while Jonathan Toews, a playoff MVP candidate through the first three rounds, would have none?

The Philadelphia Flyers, hoping to capitalize on home-ice advantage Friday for the second straight game and tie the series at two games each, have similar examples of stars who have been stymied and lesser lights who have emerged as key players.

Mike Richards, Philadelphia’s top regular-season scorer with a career-best 31 goals, has one point in this series, off an assist. Linemate Jeff Carter, who scored 33 goals this season but is still regaining his form after breaking one foot in March and the other during the playoffs, also has one assist.

But Scott Hartnell has rebounded from a miserable season to contribute two goals and five points while still doing the dirty work in the corners and in front of the net that makes him invaluable.

Ville Leino, cast off by the Detroit Red Wings and benched for the first four games of the playoffs, has produced two goals and four points, most of it since he and Hartnell were placed on the wings with Daniel Briere as their center.

And then there is Claude Giroux, who was scoreless in the first two games at Chicago but had the overtime tip-in Wednesday that got the Flyers back into the series.

At this stage of a season that began with exhibition games in September and — for nine of these players — included an intense Olympic tournament in February, everyone is nursing some kind of bump or bruise.

Fatigue or injuries alone don’t explain why prolific scorers like Toews, Richards, Carter and Marian Hossa (one goal) are silenced while role players claim center stage.

“It’s not about what your body’s going through,” Toews said Thursday. “It’s what you’ve got left in your head and how bad you want it.”

The Stanley Cup isn’t always won by the team with the greatest depth on paper; it takes depth of character to win this most grueling of postseason tournaments. It takes third- and fourth-line centers who grind and win key faceoffs and become leaders when their more skillful teammates are neutralized by the other team’s checking line.

And sometimes it takes powerful motivation to win, whether it’s to prove to your coach, your teammates or yourself that you belong here, in this moment, waiting to have your name etched on the Cup.

That’s true for Hartnell, who was projected to score 30 goals this season but scored only 14.

“The playoffs sometimes is a second opportunity. You get to right some wrongs in the regular season if you’re not happy with the way you played,” Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette said. “If he continues to play well, nobody will be talking about his regular season. They’ll only be talking about the playoffs and his contributions. I think he’s worked really hard. He’s focused. He’s disciplined. He’s playing really good hockey for us.”

Giroux scored the shootout goal that got the Flyers into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season and led them in scoring in the Eastern Conference finals against Montreal with three goals and six points, but he was tense in the first two games against the Blackhawks. That prompted Laviolette to take Giroux aside during Wednesday’s game-day skate and urge the 22-year-old right wing to relax.

His words struck a chord with Giroux, who responded by setting up the Flyers’ second and third goals and redirecting a shot by Matt Carle past Antti Niemi for the winner at 5:59 of overtime.

Giroux has gone from lesser light to shining light, a confident player on a team whose assurance was boosted during its rally from an 0-3 deficit against Boston in the second round and has continued to grow.

“It was pretty tough going 0-2. It’s not the start we wanted, but it looks like that’s what we do all playoffs,” Giroux said. “We just come back.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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